Reserves rose by $21 billion in April to $3.03 trillion, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said on its website. Reserves climbed by $3.96 billion in March to $3.009 trillion, the data showed.

The April rise also got a hand from a pause in the greenback's rally. A gauge of the US currency which measures the greenback's movement against the currencies of its trading partners fell 1.3% in April.

US President Donald Trump said last month the dollar was getting too strong, making American products less competitive globally. He subsequently said China stopped manipulating their currency after he called them on it.

Business Insider Australia

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange said reserves rose due to basically balanced foreign exchange supply and demand and the appreciation of currencies against the dollar.

China gave up more than $US200 billion of reserves last year to support the yuan against the dollar. The Chinese currency fell 6.5% against the dollar in 2016, its biggest annual drop since 1994.

Late last year, China tightened rules on sending capital overseas to support the yuan and stem a slide in its foreign exchange reserves. That hurt Chinese outbound acquisitions by companies and asset purchases by its citizens.